If you ask many retired people what their life is like, they will probably tell you that they are as busy as ever. Every day is full of errands, shopping, household chores, yard work, TV and movies, club meetings, and all sorts of other things. Their calendars are filled with events, appointments, and get-togethers. After…
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As of April 19, about 40% of the people in the United States have received at least one vaccine shot and many of us in the older age brackets have received both. The pandemic isn’t over by any means, and it will continue to be a factor in our lives for many months to come,…
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It’s easy to imagine an ideal retirement lifestyle, filled with stress-free days in which you are engaging in all those self-fulfilling pursuits you’ve always dreamed of but never had time for. You probably have a nice list of things you would like to do and places you want to go after you retire. Maybe you…
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After you retire, you may believe that you no longer need to manage your time. Perhaps you regard time management as something you get to leave behind when you end your working career. After all, you have been a slave to your work schedule for decades. If you are not retired yet, you may envision…
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While you have some control over the physical aging process with a healthy diet and moderate exercise, the fact that your body ages as you get older is inevitable. However, you have much greater control over your attitude towards aging. Here are ten steps you can take to cultivate a positive, youthful attitude at any…
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Throughout your working years, you have probably viewed your retirement as a destination. It is a goal you are saving for and will hopefully reach one day. But once you reach this destination, then what? The perception of retirement as a destination may be why some people approach retirement with dread rather than anticipation. They…
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I’ve been retired for over seven years now. The newness and shininess of retirement has worn off, and I’m now well-settled into this chapter of my life. Work has receded into a distant memory. Has retirement turned out the way I thought it would? No. Has retirement turned out well anyway? Yes! Over the past…
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Are you single? If so, you probably have some concerns about your retirement that people with partners are less likely to experience. If you’re married (or otherwise partnered), don’t click away! Consider that, unless you and your spouse pass away at the same time, one of you will experience being single at some point. Later in…
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Hopefully, you have at least a general idea of how you hope your life will unfold in the years to come. You probably have some ideas (whether vague or specific) about where you’d really like to live, where you hope to travel, when you hope to retire, and an assortment of dreams and “bucket list”…
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The most popular article on RetireFabulously.com has been the mega-list of 100 Things You Can Do After You Retire. After all, there’s no reason to be bored after you retire. Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of those activities aren’t feasible because they involve interacting with groups of people in potentially unsafe situations. But don’t…
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In the years that I have been writing and speaking about retirement lifestyles, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with and exchange emails with many people about their hopes and concerns as they anticipate their retirement. During one such exchange a few months ago, a reader told me, “I’m afraid to retire.” I suspect this…
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You probably know some people who have Type A personalities. They are driven, goal-oriented, rigid, competitive, and edgy. They thrive on being over-committed and they like to take charge. They’re perfectionists who have low tolerance for incompetence. Type A people thrive in a fast-paced, demanding work environment. While these qualities may be desirable for career…
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Retirement is not one-size-fits-all. There are many ways to envision how you’ll spend your retirement years. Identifying your retirement personality type can help you gain clarity about what you want your retirement to be like on a day-to-day basis. You might see yourself in more than one of these categories, and the categories you fit…
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When you retire from work, you retire from pressure, stress, deadlines, performance reviews, boring meetings, and that annoying guy down the aisle who spends all day making personal phone calls that everyone can hear. But you will also leave behind something that is more important than you may realize: human contact. While most of your colleagues probably aren’t…
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Hopefully, you are looking forward to retirement with eagerness and anticipation. You envision retirement as a well-deserved reward that you have earned with years of hard work. You are imagining all sorts of ways to fill your days once you are free from the constraints of work and your life is truly your own. But…
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It’s not uncommon for two-career couples to retire at different times. This may happen when there is a significant age difference or if one spouse retires sooner than planned due to an unexpected layoff or an irresistible early retirement incentive package. In other cases, one spouse may feel burnt out and ready to throw in…
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While you may view retirement as a long-anticipated emancipation from the work world, it is also a period of considerable change and adjustment. If you are married, some of the most profound changes will take place within the context of your relationship with your spouse. For some couples, the fact that they have been drifting…
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The internet is awash with advice from retirement planning experts. Interestingly, many people who write retirement advice haven’t retired yet or are relatively recent retirees (like me). Plus, much of the advice you read comes from financial planners. That’s important, of course, but as you know, there’s more to a happy retirement than simply saving…
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You have probably been anticipating your retirement for many years. Perhaps you’ve entertained some general ideas about what your retirement will look like, but you’re not sure what your day-to-day life will be like once the big day comes to pass. Despite your years of anticipation, you may be surprised by what it’s really like…
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At first, this may seem like a rhetorical question. After all, you won’t have to work anymore! You will no longer have to deal with pressure, deadlines, performance reviews, demanding customers, or annoying co-workers. You can shut off the alarm clock and get up when you want. And best of all, no more boss! (Well,…
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It’s not news to anyone that the people in the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) are leaving the workforce and entering their retirement years in larger numbers than ever before. An estimated 10,000 people turn 65 in the United States every day. Among my circle of friends and former co-workers, I…
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In many of the other articles on this website, I write a lot about all the possibilities for what you can do with your life once you no longer have to work (or at least, work full-time). You can spend more time doing things you’re passionate about, such as writing, playing music, creating art, or…
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“Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?” You’ve probably heard this question many times during job interviews throughout your career – especially from interviewers who weren’t very skillful at conducting job interviews. One of the biggest problems with this question is that you have no way of knowing what opportunities may be…
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Would you like to slow down your rate of physical decline by as much as 62%? Want to be able to reduce or delay the risk of cognitive decline? The answer is not some new miracle drug. I’m not even talking about exercising regularly and eating responsibility – although those habits are certainly important and…
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When you think about what your retirement lifestyle will be like, what comes to mind? What adjectives would you use to describe what you hope your life will be like? I’ll bet one that’s high on your list is “stress-free.” Like practically everyone else, I’m sure you hope that your retirement years will be more…
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I have been retired for nine months now. In some ways, it seems as though the time has flown by. In other ways, it seems like my life has been like this for a long time and work is now a distant memory. When greeted by friends, I’m often asked, “So how’s retirement?” My stock…
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Should You Take That Early Retirement Package?
My former employer (a large household name corporation) recently announced their intention to reduce their workforce by 15%. To accomplish that, they are offering eligible employees a generous early retirement package. So far, four of my friends who still work there are taking it. Another friend who is 56 and was planning to work at…
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